


moon of my life, my sun and stars

by banh_bao



Series: we create hell with our own hands [7]
Category: Ace Mansion (Roleplay)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, M/M, Mutual Pining, Tsundere Umbrix, i never thought i'd see the day where i wrote RPF but here we fucking are, this is why god left us
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:21:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26194819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/banh_bao/pseuds/banh_bao
Summary: There's a coronation tomorrow, a knife in his hand, and less time than is strictly comfortable to pull off this assassination.But not everything is as it seems in this palace of shadows.Or: AU where Mixcoatl is the crown prince of an empire and Umbrix wants to murder him.
Relationships: Mixcoatl/Umbrix (Ace Mansion)
Series: we create hell with our own hands [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1900273





	moon of my life, my sun and stars

**Author's Note:**

> I have no words. If you clicked into this,, god i'm so fucking sorry. i swear everything in this series is intentionally bad.

**Brixcoatl**

**tsundere!Self Insert x senpai!Self Insert yaoi don't like don't read**

**AN: nam mo quan the am bo tat god jesus buddha zeus whoever the fuck is out there pls have mercy because I think i just lost a piece of my soul making this garbage**

Umbrix stealthily crept down the hall, sticking to the shadows and best they could. The moon's cold light filtered down through the windows and midnight silence dampened their steps. There was no time to admire the palace's opulence, though he did give himself a moment to mentally sneer as he moved.

He was here on a mission.

After months of working his way up through the royal servants, he finally had the chance to make a change. All he needed was his trusty knife and one good shot.

The clocks burned fresh in his mind. The prince would be asleep in bed by now and the guards would rotate soon, replaced by ones he'd bribed to keep their silence on what was to come. 

Footsteps padded down the hall. Umbrix stiffened, his limpid [eye color] orbs partially obscured by his black mahogany mask. He melted back into the dark hall and waited with bated breath. 

The footsteps paused momentarily, then continued. He didn't relax until they were well and truly out of earshot. *Sloppy,* he chastised himself. *I'd better keep my guard up.*

And then he was at the entrance to the prince's chambers. His Royal Highness, secondborn but the only legitimate heir to the throne, whose ascension as Emperor was scheduled for the very next day lay sleeping behind these doors.

He was an elusive one, this prince. Despite all the months he'd spent working in the palace kitchens, Umbrix had never seen so much as a glimpse of the other man. Few had, actually; the prince seemed to be a very private person who avoided public appearance like the plague. He had only one personal attendant who tended to all the tasks normally assigned to a team of royal servants– drawing baths, delivering food, getting dressed, delivering messages, and the like. Nobody could agree on what he looked like, though surely he must have taken after the late Emperor, Empress, and eldest prince.

The Knight of Hope, they called this prince. The honored bringer of light. The last remaining son of imperial blood, a man of unmatched talent whose coming reign would surely usher the kingdom into a new era of prosperity. 

Umbrix had to laugh. The idiots pinning all their hopes on this new guy were in for a real treat once he was done here.

With a cursory glance at their surroundings, Umbrix slipped inside. Weak moonlight illuminated vague, dark shapes. All he could see were silhouettes of what were surely the finest of furnishings commissioned from the most talented artisans in the land. 

He crept to the massive bed, pushed aside the canopy, and slit the throat of the figure lying prone beneath the sheets.

Or, well, he tried to. And he failed.

Because there was nobody there.

He inhaled sharply, alarm spiking up his spine. _Where was the prince?_

Suddenly the room was awash in a flood of yellow light. Ah, shit.

He turned to hide or flee or find a shadow to lose his physical form in but a broad, firm hand caught his wrist. “Going somewhere?” came a smooth baritone voice. 

Umb’s heart pounded in his ears. He slowly turned around. That voice….

_“You?”_

~~~*~~~~*~~~

_Music and laughter echoed down the streets. An impossibly large crowd gathered in the town square, all bodies moving and dancing to the beat of the drums. Colorful masks adorned everyone’s faces as far as the eye could see, leaving only the mouths open to speak and eat. Even the smallest child wore a mask, and those who couldn’t afford the nice ones had roughly hewn masks of wood or cloth or woven straw._

_All, it seemed, except for one._

_Umbrix leaned against the alley wall, halfway melted into shadow. Umbral mages like him weren’t exactly welcome here, but it was nice to watch the festivities all the same. Once the sun set a little more it’d be prime time for pickpocketing and snatching from vendor stalls._

_A pang of envy, bitterness, and maybe something else made itself known behind his ribs but he quashed it ruthlessly. Let them have their fun. He’d have the last laugh, one way or another. He’d join the court spellcasters and have all the gentry vying for his attention and leave all these gremlins in the dust._

_Someone cleared their throat beside him. “You look awfully bored.” The speaker’s voice was smooth and deep like the roll of thunder across a stormy sky over an open field. Umbrix whipped around to face them._ When the hell did someone sneak up behind me? _He thought._

_A tall, dark, and handsome man in an ivory half-mask looked down at him. His handsome face, skin a deep nut brown like boiled tree sap, split wide open with a smirk. Umbrix scoffed._

_“What is it to you?”_

_“Oh, nothing,” said the stranger. When he shifted, the muscles of his bare arms rippled. Umbrix stubbornly ignored his own growing interest. “I just thought I’d ask you to dance with me. That’s what this festival’s all about, after all. What do you say?” He extended a broad hand._

_Umbrix knocked it aside. “Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t need your pity, prettyboy.” He folded his arms and turned his head away._

_Instead, the stranger’s grin widened. His many piercings gleamed in the low light. “You think I’m pretty?”_

_Umb’s cheeks heated up against his will. “A-As if! Don’t kid yourself, asshole. You’re fucking hideous; get out of my sight!”_

_The other man laughed. It was a nice laugh. Not, you know, that Umbrix would be caught dead admitting that. He had his pride. He wouldn’t fall for the first pretty face who deigned to speak to him for anything besides business._

_(This was painfully false.)_

_“Come on now, don’t be like that,” he chided. “It’s not pity. I just think a handsome guy like you oughtta be out dancing in the square, not hiding all alone back here. And I, for one, happen to need a dance partner.”_

_He short-circuited a little. “I- You-” There was a lot going on with his emotionally repressed ass right now. So, of course, he hissed like a feral cat. “Go try your shitty shameless lines on someone else!” He’d die before admitting how badly he wanted to accept the offer._

_“But none of them are you,” said the man. Something about him seemed painfully earnest and Umbrix couldn’t help but let his harsh front soften a little bit._

_“...I don’t even have a mask,” he muttered. Nobody would sell them to him._

_“That’s alright; I have an extra.” The stranger reached into a bag (which, wow, Umbrix hadn’t even noticed it. He could’ve been mugging this guy the whole damn time) and procured an elegant half-mask of gleaming black mahogany. Its abalone frills and filigree, he noted dimly, matched perfectly with the stranger’s mask. “Come on, just one dance?” His smile was hopeful and there was nothing mocking at all in his gaze when their eyes met._

_Umbrix quickly looked away again. “...Fine,” he said, accepting the mask. “But only one.”_

_The stranger beamed._

_They exited the alleyway together, hand in hand, with matching ornate masks. The stranger’s touch almost burned. As they entered the square proper the musicians struck up a new song entirely, all quick beats and lively melody._

_“I don’t know how to dance!” cried Umbrix belatedly._

_“It’s fine,” the other man replied. “I’ll teach you!” He grabbed Umb’s other hand and started to lead a fast-paced rhythm with their bodies. Every time they touched, he felt something he’d never felt before. Something staticky, something ablaze._

_Soon Umb was able to stumble into something like a proper dance by following his new dance partner. Against his will, he admitted to himself that this was actually pretty fun. Exhilarating, even._

_Needless to say, they danced for more than one song._

_The rest of the evening passed in a blur of laughter and stolen glances as they orbited each other like a pair of binary stars. They ate together, drank together, perused some festival booths, and danced and danced some more._

_By now night had fallen and the band played a slower song. Thousands of lanterns floated up into the sky. The two of them swayed in the center of the square, their earlier frenetic energy settling into something a little warmer, a little sweeter._

_They stared into each other’s eyes and Umbrix found himself lost in those hazelnut orbs. It felt like coming home. What a wondrous feeling, he thought to himself. I’ve never felt this way before._

_They both leaned their heads a little closer. There was an electric tension in the tiny gap between them._

_“May I?” the stranger asked breathlessly._

_“Y-yeah,” said Umb, just as breathless._

_And so their lips met. Slowly, sweetly, time flowing like honey._

_And again._

_And again._

_Every time they touched, he got this feeling. Every time they kissed, he swore he could fly. His pulse pounded._ Can’t you feel my heart beat fast? _Umbrix wondered silently._ I want this to last. I need you by my side.

_But all good things must come to an end, and this was no exception. The two beheld each other in the same dark alley where they’d met before._

_“So I guess this is goodbye,” said the stranger. “I had a really nice time with you tonight.”_

_“It… It was alright,” Umbrix replied. “I mean, I guess I didn’t hate it.” Try as he might, he couldn’t keep the shyness out of his voice. “Do you… Do you think we’ll meet again?”_ **_(AN: hahaha he’s so tsuntsun! My favorite uke and seme XD)_ **

_“I hope so,” said the stranger. He sounded oddly sad. “Say, what should I call you?”_

_“Umbrix,” he replied. “What about you?”_

_“...Coa,” said the other man. “You can call me Coa.”_

_Umbrix made to return the mask but Coa refused. “Keep it,” he said. “Consider it a gift.”_

_“No, that’s dumb shit,” said Umbrix. “I won’t take anyone’s charity.”_

_“Then… How about this,” said Coa. “Just give it back to me the next time we meet.” He took Umbrix’s hand, lifted it to his mouth, and pressed a kiss to the back of his glove. “Adieu, handsome stranger.”_

_And just liek that, he vanished._

~~~*~~~~*~~~

The memories spun madly in the back of Umbrix’s mind like a spindle gone out of control. This was Coa. It had to be him. What was he doing here?

He absently took note of maybe-Coa’s fine clothes and bare face. 

The bare face which was the spitting image of the late Empress. Motherfuckign shit.

Maybe-Coa-maybe-His-Royal-Highness’s eyes widened. _“Umbrix?”_

They stared at each other, slack-jawed, in total silence for an upsettingly long time. _So the guy you had a big gay crush on and pined after for years ended up being Prince Mixcoatl, Heir to the throne of the entire fucking kingdom and you tried to murder him,_ he thought. _That’s it. That’s the title of the book I’m definitely going to write if I get out of here alive._ His grip on his knife tightened and he steeled himself to make his move.

Try as he might, he couldn’t do it. The prince’s grip was too Stronk™. His hands were too big and sexy and Umbrix was just a simple gay probably-necromancer definitely-attempted-assassin. He reached up to stab him in the neck but Crown Prince Mixcoatl pinned him against a wall that had definitely been there earlier and no I’m not making this shit up just for convenience purposes. His heated chocolate gaze bore into Umbrix’s own eyes. 

“It’s been so long,” he said. He sounded strangely choked up. 

“What the fuck,” said Umbrix.  
  


“What?”  
  


“My dude, my guy, I literally just tried to fucking murder you in your sleep, why are you having a crisis?”

“Because I’m sad and gay and I’ve been pining over the hot necromancer guy I met at a dance several years ago and I haven’t known peace since? And suddenly he’s right here within arm’s reach?”

“....Yeah that works,” said Umbrix.

“Marry me,” said Mixcoatl.

“W-what the fuck x2,” said Umbrix.

“Well that’s the only way I can think of that’d save you from being executed for treason against the throne since I’m, yknow, royalty.” Flowers bloomed around them even though it was the dead of night. His eyes sparkled- actually, the air itself seemed to shimmer.

“I mean, I guess I don’t hate you that much. Not that I’m in love with you or anything!” _Emperor Consort is pretty fuckin good,_ he thought. _Hell yeah. Dig that gold._

Mixcoatl’s face split into that same shiny Maito Gai™ grin that made his heart skip a beat. Umbrix dropped his knife on the floor, which _by the way_ is a really shitty way to take care of your knives because it’ll blunt the blade to hell and back so try not to do that in real life.

They kissed. Mixcoatl’s arms were his castle, his heart was his sky. When Umb’s knees went weak, he swept him off his feet and into his arms bridal-style.

And, well.

The bed was right there.

~*~OWARI~*~


End file.
